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Comment

It cuts aluminum great. It's just that raw plasma-cut edges aren't ideal for welding because of the oxides, and the HAZ.

Could you explain more. I'am thinking about buy a plasma cutter and don't know a alot about them. what do you mean buy "HAZ" I understand the oxides part. I think. This can be cleaned up by a stainless wire brush then welded. thanks daye

Comment

HAZ: heat affected zone. The properties of the material are changed in the HAZ in a variety of ways, and depend on the material. Examples include loss of heat treatment, growth of grain structure, loss of toughness or strength (due to the annealing of cold worked material), microscopic cracks....

For aluminum, loss of heat treatment from heat treated alloys is probably the major issue, same as when laying on weld, but grain growth and cracking can also be an issue with some alloys.

Clean up before welding with a file, carbide burr, or other mechanical cutting method to remove oxide. Just brushing, or improper grinding, can drive bits of the oxide into the metal surface. The weld heat will USUALLY do more to the mechanical and chemical properties than the heat from plasma cutting.